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New and Upcoming Books to Discover This AAPI Heritage Month
It’s May! And in the U.S. that means it’s AAPI Heritage Month, dedicated to celebrating the culture, history, and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Here at Goodreads, we like to stay in our bookish lane (we love our lane), so we’ve gathered this list of 2023 books—new and upcoming—from AAPI and Asian writers around the globe. This is by no means a comprehensive list but rather a sampling of books to discover from across genres.
In fact, this year we’ve made the sorting easier by dividing the list into general genre categories: general fiction; mysteries; romance; sci-fi, fantasy & horror—like that. If you can’t find what you need, keep scrolling down! Of course, some books are hard to categorize, but this collection should provide a starting point for further exploration.
Some highlights: Abraham Verghese (Cutting for Stone) returns to shelves with the highly anticipated historical epic The Covenant of Water. R.F. Kuang departs from her usual fantasy concerns with the perilous publishing industry adventure Yellowface. And Jesse Q. Sutanto (the Aunties series) spins a San Francisco cozy mystery with Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.
Scroll over the covers to learn more about each book, and be sure to add the books that pique your interest to your Want to Read shelf!
General Fiction
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Mysteries & Thrillers
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Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror
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Romance
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Young Adult
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Nonfiction
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Have a book to recommend for AAPI Heritage Month? Be sure to share it with your fellow readers in the comments below!
Comments Showing 1-50 of 88 (88 new)
Hmmmmm, not sure if I will read any of them but many covers are gorgeous (I know I know! I should not fall for a pretty cover and read the resume first!) like, the one for Immortal Longings? Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea? Beautiful!
Can’t wait to read some of these books this month!
Im not seeing any Pacific Islanders in this list???
worm wrote: "the covers of some of these books are absolutely beautiful !"I know right!!! These covers are gorgeous!
oh my gosh I love Chloe Gong I can't wait for her new books!
I read Pachinko and The Mountains Sing in the last couple of years, and am now reading The Valley of Amazement - they were all so enjoyable. Sweeping, tragic, dramas told across years or even lifetimes. I love the pacing and the lyrical prose of epic stories like these, and they bring so much history to my attention that I wasn't taught in school. Fantastic list, thank you Goodreads!
Talei wrote: "Im not seeing any Pacific Islanders in this list???"Right?? Same thought!!
Would have liked to see a children's book list for AAPI month
Talei wrote: "Im not seeing any Pacific Islanders in this list???"Neither can I!
So I had a look on a NZ bookshop site for some Pacifika works. I didn't find anything first published 2023, but...
Dawn Raid about a shameful time in New Zealand's recent history (published 2018)
How to Loiter in a Turf War by Coco Solid sounds really interesting! (published 2022)Edit: Both showing for me as available on Amazon.
strategian wrote: "No thanks."My sentiments also...
Aurora wrote: "Beautiful covers bur not interested. Also, why do you guys ALWAYS ignore the Jews? No list for meaningful Holocaust fiction/nonfiction for Shoah few weeks ago. No solidarity for Jews that are haras..."I wouldn't say GR bends over backwards for every other group. They are having a Pacific Islander month - but no books by Pacific Islanders.
Talei wrote: "Im not seeing any Pacific Islanders in this list???"there are a handful of books by authors of filipino origin. (yeah, it's perhaps ambiguous how one should classify filipinos.) also one by a person from hawaii with some hawaiian heritage. weak representation but it looks like someone at least tried.
Which ones are Pacific Islander written?? Anyone know any?
Talei wrote: "Im not seeing any Pacific Islanders in this list???"If you like fantasy, one of the central characters in Victoria Goddard's "Lays of the Hearth Fire" is inspired by Pacific Island culture
Thank you for the list. The covers of these books are beautiful.
It's also Jewish-American Heritage Month, but I guess Goodreads doesn't care about that.Shalom and Happy May!! 💙
V wrote: "there are a handful of books by authors of filipino origin. (yeah, it's perhaps ambiguous how one should classify filipinos.) als..."
A friend of mine is looking for a book written by a Hawaiian author. can you tell me which one it is? I've looked at all the ones I thought were possible with no success.
& I'm from New Zealand, so I think of Pacifika people as being from Cook Islands, Tonga, Niue, Hawaii.
But the Māori are from the same stock & we do have some famous Māori authors. I'll be honest that I have never connected with Patricia Grace but Witi Ihimaera is wonderful & poet Tayi Tibble had her book Poaukahangatus in the last Goodreads Choice Awards.
Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote:"A friend of mine is looking for a book written by a Hawaiian author..."
Local by Jessica Machado. Maybe not quite what your friend is looking for, but it's the book I found on this list.
Thanks for the recs of Māori authors!
Such great covers and content here! What a great list of awesome books by amazing authors!
V wrote: "Local by Jessica Machado. Maybe not quite what your friend is looking for, but it's the book..."
This could be what my friend is looking for. & such a stunning cover (actually all the books have great covers, but this is one of the nicest!
& I blush to say this, but I missed that there was a nonfiction section. I just finished Straight Up by the amazing Ruby Tui. Easily the best sports memoir that I have ever read (yes, I realise that isn't exactly high praise - the Kiwi ones are usually terrible!) Ruby is half Samoan & an absolute life force! She overcame so much to get where she is today.
So many fab titles! Loved the Blue Bar and can’t wait to tuck into The Deep Sky, The Surviving Sky, Bitter Medicine, and Shanghai Immortal!
I would add Bich Minh Nguyen’s memoir, ‘Stealing Buddha’s Dinner’ to the list.
Definitely getting some of them to make my shelf look prettier.
Rachel Heng and Kyla Zhao are Singaporeans living in the US as non-citizens. Looking forward to reading their books, but they shouldn't be on Asian American reading lists.
Konstantin wrote: "Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Konstantin wrote: "How can I put 'Journey into Disaster' in the rubric 'General Fiction' and/or 'Mysterys/Thrillers?'It sets in in the Philippines, also in the Paci..."
AAPI is for Asian American and Pacific Islander. This list is for AAPI authors. You're German, so it seems like that's why your book is not included in this list.
Sarah wrote: "It's also Jewish-American Heritage Month, but I guess Goodreads doesn't care about that.
Shalom and Happy May!! 💙"
Someone else noticed :) Shalom!
Shalom and Happy May!! 💙"
Someone else noticed :) Shalom!
Konstantin wrote: "Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "V wrote: "there are a handful of books by authors of filipino origin. (yeah, it's perhaps ambiguous how one should classify filipinos.) als..."
A friend of mine is ..."
Looks good, thank you for this.
Aurora wrote: "Sarah wrote: "It's also Jewish-American Heritage Month, but I guess Goodreads doesn't care about that.Shalom and Happy May!! 💙"
Someone else noticed :) Shalom!"
Is Jenny Odell of the Jewish faith or just interested in Havruta? (author of Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock above)
Jie-Ying wrote: "Rachel Heng and Kyla Zhao are Singaporeans living in the US as non-citizens. Looking forward to reading their books, but they shouldn't be on Asian American reading lists."Why not?
These look amazing! Thanks for posting the list!
I love how books by actual Asians (South Asians) residing in South Asia do not feature in this list but a lot of books by "South Asians" who are American Citizens make the list. What about Anand Neelakantan's Nala Damyanati (Penguin) or Gourav Mohanty's Sons of Darkness (Head of Zeus)
All The Cuts And Scars We Hide by Garry Michael should be on this list. The author is Asian American and one of the mc's Kai is a Pacific Islander.
😃 Kindly propose books (2023) which want to see on this list. 
from Filipino author and
from Syrian author.Their covers are so gorgeous! Wish to see them on here, as well! Anyway, from this list, I loved this
🍵. Will definitely read more books from this list. Thank you!! 😁💕
I cannot believe Goodreads is allowing these racist comments! And FYI commenting “not interested” is not helpful to the conversation. It just lets me know that you are at the very least, a boring person with racial bias 😒
Jenna wrote: "I cannot believe Goodreads is allowing these racist comments! And FYI commenting “not interested” is not helpful to the conversation. It just lets me know that you are at the very least, a boring p..."I think any offensive comments have been removed. (one still shows because another contributor quoted it) I don't think these threads are moderated. If something concerns you (or there is any spam) you need to flag the comment then GR will take action.
Some great recs, but I wish there were more American Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiians on this list!
Talei wrote: "Im not seeing any Pacific Islanders in this list???"I completely agree!!!
Amazing at so many of y’all showing your racial bias and complaining about a single article highlighting authors from a minority. Or complaining that Goodreads doesn’t do anything for your specific minority.
This is a great list! I'm looking forward to sharing it with my students and school.I will also recommend looking at another list from my friends at the Very Asian Foundation who raise money to donate Asian American books to schools. They have a curated list broken down by school age as part of their May Book Project. If you are looking to cross-reference age or school levels to Asian American titles, check them out!
veryasianfoundation (dot) org
veryasianfoundation (dot) org (slash) may-book-project
Thanks, Goodreads for sharing this list!
my goodness! what's up with these insanely beautiful covers??
Other than that, a very interesting list of books. Thank you.